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Residential construction underway at Deerfield Village. (Etienne Ranger, OBJ)

Canada Lands Company to impose architectural conditions on purchaser

Canada Lands Company (CLC) is selling the final 10-acre parcel of its Deerfield Village property just east of the Ottawa International Airport, but will saddle the future purchaser with architectural requirements.

The residential developer will be restricted in the types of materials, colours, windows and rooflines used in constructing any low-rise apartments and stacked townhouses on the property, which is in the Bank Street and Lester Road area and is adjacent to Sawmill Creek, says CLC vice-president Gordon McIvor.

"We want to make it nicer-looking than what most people would have thought of. This is going to be something that's got a very nice look to it and a very uniform look," he says.

While admitting he's a little surprised CLC would be so definitive on its design controls, the head of the city's home builders' association says CLC is unlikely to end up in the same predicament as the National Capital Commission, whose rigid standards and micromanaging of the LeBreton Flats redevelopment project is regarded as having led to only one bidder submitting a proposal that has been criticized as substandard.

"It is not inconsistent with the way (CLC) has operated in the past," says John Herbert, the executive director of the Greater Ottawa Home Builders' Association.

"They have actually been quite successful in quite a few of the projects they have developed in the past in terms of raising the bar a bit on the urban design side and facilitating the builders, helping them through it."

Mr. Herbert says the first two construction phases on the 73-acre site were "very successful," with homes backing onto natural open space and featuring strong designs with generous use of brick.

The subdivision agreement for the initial phases was executed between CLC and the city in October 2004, says Mr. McIvor. The developers involved include Larco Homes, Longwood Building Corp. V.I.P. Homes and Campanale Homes, he adds.

There has been "high interest" in developing the third phase and CLC has received "many" bids already, says Mr. McIvor, who declined to give further details. With a Dec. 10 deadline for proposals for the 10-acre site, seven of which are developable, Mr. McIvor expects the sale to close by the end of March.

The property was obtained in a 2002 land transfer with the National Capital Commission, which retained a narrow parcel between the development area and Bank Street.

CLC is a self-financed Crown corporation tasked with purchasing, holding and selling surplus government properties and can subject itself to municipal zoning bylaws, unlike the federal government, which exercises primacy over lower levels of government.

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DEER HUNT

Deerfield Village

Location: Due east of the airport on Lester Road, just west of Bank Street

Total size: 73 acres

Number of homes in phase 1 and 2: Approximately 350 single family homes and townhouses

Phase 3: Low-rise apartments or stacked multiple units on 7 acres of developable land

Source: Canada Lands Company